How to set up ELEX EasyPost Shipping Method Plugin for WooCommerce? (with Video)

This article intends to provide detailed, step-by-step instructions that’ll help you understand, how to set up ELEX EasyPost Shipping Method Plugin for WooCommerce. Refer the product page to know more about other various features of the plugin.

EasyPost is a flexible API that enables you to access shipping rates from multiple shipping carriers like USPS, FedEx, UPS, DHL, Amazon Services, Australia Post, Canada Post and so on (see the complete list here).

Printing shipping label: You can print shipping labels from order pages in the back-end of your WooCommerce store. The store admin can also update the shipping service while printing the label in the back-end.

Now that we know what the plugin has to offer, and have installed the same, let’s get down to configure the plugin.

General settings

The general settings are as shown below.

General settings

Real-time Rates: Tick this checkbox to enable real-time rates.

Debug Mode: If you are not getting proper rates (lesser or higher than expected), not getting all the available shipping options, or not getting any rates at all, then you can tick this Debug mode checkbox to find the error(s). You can also see the warning(s) by our WooCommerce EasyPost plugin. By enabling debug mode, you can trace issue using log. You can see information about debugging at the top of cart and checkout page. After enabling debug mode, add a product to cart. Go to cart or checkout page to see the debugging information.

Generic API Settings

The generic API settings consist of the following:

API-KEY: For accessing Easypost.com APIs, you need to register with EasyPost. After successful registration, you’ll receive test key and live key. Enter the receive API key in this field.

2. Enter all the required details in the given registration form and signup.

3. Once you have signed up, go to Account > API Keys, as shown in the screenshot below.

Selecting API Keys option

4. Copy relevant API keys(Production or Test), and paste it in the API-Key text-field of our EasyPost plugin. A sample screenshot of the credentials is as shown below.

EasyPost API Keys

API Mode: You can enable TEST mode to try out your plugin settings(for checking real-time rates, label printing or so on), and switch to LIVE mode for accepting real order transactions.

Rates & Services settings

This section contains settings that will determine the services that will be made available to the customers in your WooCommerce store. The settings are as shown below.

Rates & Services settings

Method Title: Allows you to set a custom title for EasyPost shipping method. This title will be visible on cart and checkout page under Shipping options.

Method Available to: This field allows you to select countries, for which you want to offer EasyPost shipping method. There are two options:

All Countries: Choose this option if you want to offer EasyPost shipping method to all over the world. This option is selected, by default.

Specific Countries:Provides option to select desired countries. The EasyPost shipping method will be available only in selected countries.

Zip Code: Enter the zip code of the sender. This zip code will be used for calculating shipping rates.

Sender Country: Select the desired sender country.

Flat Rate Boxes: Allows you to select USPS Flat rate boxes. Flat rates are hardcoded in our WooCommerce EasyPost plugin. There are no USPS API calls made to get Flat rates. Read more about USPS Flat Rate Boxes and Pricing here.

Flat Rate Fee: Enter Flat Rate Fee which is the additional charge on flat shipping rate. If you enter a negative amount value, then that entered amount gets subtracted from flat shipping rate. This amount is per-box excluding tax.Leave this field blank to disable Flat Rate Fee.

Fallback: If Easypost fails to return any shipping rates, the fallback rate will be offered for shipping so that users can Checkout. Leave blank to disable it.

Rates Type: Select Residential or Commercial rates to offer for the customers. The residential rates are usually higher than the commercial rates.

EasyPost Carrier(s): Select the desired carrier(s) for shipping. The plugin supports popular shipping carriers like USPS(default), FedEx, and UPS. You can select one or more shipping carriers based on your requirement.

Services: USPS, FedEx, and UPS provide different types of shipping methods which are suited to the different needs of the customer. Our WooCommerce EasyPost Shipping plugin supports the following services –

USPS

First-Class

Priority Mail®

Priority Mail Express™

USPS Parcel Select

Library Mail Parcel

Media Mail Parcel

USPS Critical Mail

First Class Mail International

First Class Package Service™ International

Priority Mail International®

Express Mail International

FedEx

First Overnight

Priority Overnight

Standard Overnight

FedEx 2 Day AM

FedEx 2 Day

FedEx Express Saver

FedEx Ground Home Delivery

FedEx Ground

FedEx International Priority

FedEx International Economy

FedEx International First

UPS

Ground (UPS)

3 Day Select (UPS)

2nd Day Air AM (UPS)

2nd Day Air (UPS)

Next Day Air Saver (UPS)

Next Day Air Early AM (UPS)

Next Day Air (UPS)

Express (UPS)

Expedited (UPS)

Express Plus (UPS)

UPS Saver (UPS)

UPS Standard (UPS)

The shipping services settings supported by EasyPost are as given below:

Services settings

You can select services as per your requirement. Non-selected services are not shown to the customer even if they are available services from respective shipping carrier.

The services table is divided into the following four columns:

The first column lists all the services from the selected shipping carriers. You can tick the checkbox of desired service(s) that you wish to offer to your customers.

The second column allows you to set a custom name for the services.

The third and fourth column allows you to set price adjustments(positive or negative), in terms of amount value or percentage value.

For example, consider shipping cost of First-Class Mail returned by USPS is $5.

Case 1: Price adjustment of $5, for First-Class Mail –

Amount adjustment

Total cost displayed for First-Class Mail is $10 ($5+$5).

Case 2: Price adjustment of 10%, for First-Class Mail –

Percentage adjustment

Total cost displayed for First-Class Mail is $5.5 (the 10% of 5 is added to 5).

Case 3: Price adjustment of $5 and 10%, for First-Class Mail –

Amount & Percentage adjustment

Total cost displayed for First-Class Mail is $10.5 (the 10% of 5 is added to 5 + 5 to get the actual).

Save your settings once they are configured.

Label Generation settings

The Label Printing API Setting fields are as shown below:

Label Generation settings

Label Printing API Settings

Print Label Type: With this field, you can select the desired file format for printing the shipping labels. The available options are as given below:

PNG: This option prints the label in Portable Network Graphics (PNG) which is a raster graphics file format that supports lossless data compression, and is widely used in the world wide web.

PDF: This option prints the label in Portable Document Format, which is used to present document in an independent manner regardless of application, software, hardware, and operating systems.

Insurance: The insurance charges are accounted in your EasyPost account, but while requesting for Rates and services the API does not return the insurance charges with the shipping cost. Remember, EasyPost charges 1% of the value, with $1 minimum amount. All claims all handled by EasyPost itself. Once this option is enabled, the insurance option will be available under the label generation section in WooCommerce order page. By default, the insurance option is disabled. If customers want the shipment to be insured, they need to enable the insurance option while checkout process.

There are three options under this setting:

Customer Choice: When selected, a checkbox will be available on the checkout page where the customers can choose to apply insurance for their package.

Mandatory: As the name suggests, applies insurance for all shipments. Customers will not get any checkbox or information that the products are ensured.

No Insurance: The shipments will not be ensured.

Estimated Delivery Date: Shows an estimated date on which the package will be delivered to the given shipping address. Once enabled, the cart and checkout pages will display the estimated days it will take to deliver the packages as per the API’s returned data.

Bulk Shipment

Choose the default domestic and international service for bulk generation of domestic and international shipment label respectively. This label generation is processed in WooCommerce Orders page. If there are no shipping services defined for an order, the default services defined in these settings will be taken into consideration.

Packaging settings

Parcel packing

Pack Items Individually: In this option, each item in the cart is packed separately. Total shipping cost is calculated by adding the shipping cost for each item. This option is selected by default. For example, the shipping cost of Item X is $10. If the customer adds two quantities of Item X to the cart, the total shipping cost is $10 x 2, which is $20.

Pack into boxes with weight and dimensions: If packing items individually does not suit your business, then you can define custom box sizes under Box Dimensions section. All the cart items are packed into custom boxes defined in Box Dimensions settings. The best fit box is automatically chosen from the defined boxes. This is the recommended option. You can read through setting up box dimensions to understand box packing in detail.

Box Dimension settings

Box Dimensions: This setting is applicable only when Pack into boxes with weight and dimension is selected. Here, you can define the outer and inner dimensions of boxes. Outer dimensions are the dimensions of the package. Inner dimensions are the dimensions of the product.

For heavy packing box, enter the weight of the box so that it is added to product weight, to calculate shipping rates. You can tick the respective Lettercheckbox if you want to mail letters. Based on your requirement, you can add or remove box dimensions.

Pack items based on weight: Enter maximum weight limit for packages. In this option, the weight of all the cart item is summed up and items are packed with maximum weight limit in the box(es) and passed to API to get rates.